THE MOST HOLY BODY AND BLOOD OF CHRIST
6 JUNE 2021
On the final night of their
captivity in Egypt, Moses had instructed his people to slaughter a lamb and eat
its roasted flesh, along with cups of wine, bitter herbs, and other symbolic
foods. The ritual eating of this lamb
prepared them for their Passover from slavery in Egypt to freedom in the Land
promised by God to their ancestors. Then
he told them to smear its blood on the lintels of their homes. The angel of death passed over their
homes. The blood signified that these
inhabitants belonged to the family of God.
In today’s first reading from the Book of Exodus, Moses seals the
Covenant between God and his Chosen People at Mount Sinai. He splashes the blood of the sacrificed bulls
on the Altar. They are now his blood
family. Then he sprinkles the blood on
the people, signifying their blood relationship with one another. (For those of you who cringed at Deacon Lou’s
enthusiastic sprinkling of Holy Water during the Easter Season, you should be
glad that you were not at Mount Sinai!)
On the
final night of his earthly life, Jesus instructs his disciples to prepare the
Passover meal in an upper room reserved for them. As the meal progresses, Jesus deepens the
meaning of the ancient Passover ritual.
He will become the Passover Lamb, sacrificed out of love. He will give his body, his entire self, as an
active remembrance of freeing his people from slavery to sin and death to
freedom in the kingdom of God. He will seal
the New Covenant with his blood, forming a family bonded by the blood that
speaks of his life.
We are his blood
family in our world today. Whenever the
Lord invites us to eat his Body and drink his Blood at Mass, he is renewing his
commitment to us. He freely gives
himself to us in the Eucharist, even though none of us deserves it.
As his blood
family, we renew our commitment to the Lord Jesus. In sending the two disciples into Jerusalem
to arrange for the Passover Meal, he tells them to meet a man carrying a water
jar. Men never carried water jars in the
ancient world. That was the task of
women. This detail is important. In the Incarnation, Jesus had entered the
ordinary water of our humanity to draw us into his divinity. When we receive the ordinary bread and wine
that has been transformed into his Body and Blood, we embrace our commitment to
him who has committed himself to us. We
open ourselves to be transformed into his divinity.
As his blood family, we celebrate
our commitment to one another. At Mount Sinai,
the people responded to Moses by answering, “All that the Lord has said, we
will heed and do.” Reflecting on those
words, Saint Augustine explained that Holy Communion is both a gift and a task. “’The Body of Christ,’ you are told, and you
answer ‘Amen.’ Be members then of the
Body of Christ so that your Amen may be true!
Why is this mystery accomplished with bread? … Consider that the bread
is not made of one grain, but of many. During
the time of exorcism (before Baptism), you were, so to say, in the mill. When you were baptized, you were wetted with
water. Then the Holy Spirit came into
you like the fire that bakes the dough.
Be then what you see and receive what you are.”
On this Solemnity of the Most Holy
Body and Blood of Christ, we reflect on the mystery of the Eucharist, which is
the source and summit of our lives of faith.
Through our baptisms, the Lord has formed us from many different grains
into one Body. Nourished by his real
presence in the Eucharist, we are given the task of renewing the blood bonds with
the Lord and with each other. Nourished by
the Eucharist, we can bring new life to our parish, damaged by the pandemic in
this last year and a half.
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